Disgrace

I am sitting here in my hotel room in Mekele, Ethiopia shaking. I just saw footage of a US armored vehicle firing a machine gun into a crowd of civilians in Kabul, Afghanistan. I feel nauseous and dizzy but most of all I am irate! I don’t even think I can write rationally at this point.

I heard there were riots in Kabul this morning. Then an email from Afghanistan told me that the situation was far worse than what was being reported on CNN, but I still could not imagine how bad it could be. Footage is being broadcast around the world of American soldiers shooting Afghan civilians armed only with rocks, which they were throwing at a US convoy because three vehicles had been speeding through the city as usual and had killed a child in a car accident. The footage is very clear – it cannot be misinterpreted. The US military spokesman made a statement to say that all families will be compensated for their loss. How dare he say that? How can financial compensation make up for careless loss of life? CNN has since pulled the footage and is falling into line - not reporting at all on the fact that US soldiers shot unarmed civilians. And we think we have free press? I am sure that the US will pay dearly for this rash act by arrogant untrained uncultured soldiers and I have to say that at this moment while it does not justify their actions, I can understand the motivation of the perpetrators.

Just three weeks ago I was in Kabul at the ISAF (international security force in Afghanistan) craft fair. Because the soldiers are not allowed off their compound, they have a craft fair on the base every Friday. I felt very uncomfortable in their midst. I was very aware of all the guns around me and had a suspicion that all it would take was one shot and suddenly everyone would be firing in all directions. I was also uncomfortable because of the conversations around me between the soldiers and the Afghans selling their wares. I was acutely aware that these soldiers from all over the world (Australia, Spain, France, Italy, the UK and the US) were completely insensitive to the Afghan culture and I was embarrassed to be there. I did not want to be associated with these people and while the other development workers I was there with chatted to the soldiers, I kept my distance.

In one swift move these soldiers have now put Afghanistan on an entirely different path. If I was home, I would protest my own government loudly and vehemently – I am truly ashamed to be an American and want someone to pay for this despicable act! It is going to be difficult to claim that this was a one time infraction with the ongoing case in Iraq where it is claimed that US soldiers entered into houses and killed innocent civilians. I now have no doubt that this is true and have no words for the repulsion I feel towards my own government and the soldiers that do their dirty work. The irony of my present location is not lost on me. The Ethiopian government shot 60 protesters armed with rocks last year – my own government has just put themselves on the same level.